Huge crowds gather in Dhaka for funeral of former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia
Funeral of former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia takes place
- Hundreds of thousands attended funeral prayers for Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's first female prime minister, outside the national parliament building in Dhaka.
- Zia died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness, leading Bangladesh's interim government to declare a three-day mourning period and a public holiday for the funeral.
- She will be buried next to her husband, a former president assassinated in 1981, in a park outside the parliament building.
- Zia became prime minister in 1991 after rising to prominence as an opposition leader against a military dictator, and maintained a strong political rivalry with Sheikh Hasina.
- Her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, is the acting head of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is a front-runner in the nation's next elections in February.